"A bit flawed compared to the newer version but still fun"

If you’ve played the Mario Bros. Game packed inside any of the three Super Mario Advance GBA carts, you’ve played a superior version of this classic game. If you haven’t odds are you’re probably new to this game. This title was originally released in the arcades of 1983 and plays much differently then every other Mario platform game.

Mario has left the role of a carpenter and is no a plumber with his brother, Luigi, who made his first appearance in this game. Taking to the sewers it’s Mario and Luigi’s job (if you’re playing two player that is) to get rid of all that little pests prancing around the place. However, if you think a simple stomp on the head will get rid of the turtles, crabs and butterflies, it will cost you a life. Instead of jumping on your foes, you must bump the floor from underneath them to turn them upside down. Once upside down, you can kick them off the screen to make the underground a bit safer. Crabs need to be bumped twice in order to flip them over and the more you hesitate to kick an enemy off screen, the faster they become, making your task slightly more difficult.

Speaking of difficult, Mario and Luigi’s trademark move, a jump will often lead you to your demise. Why? Well because the brothers don’t control as smoothly as they do in today’s Mario games. You don’t have the ability to control their jumps in mid-air. So if you jump right and there’s a crab coming your way, unless you over shoot him, you’re pretty much dead. This isn’t a problem in the newer Mario Bros. Game because you have the full ability to manipulate your jumps.

As you progress, the game’s one screen levels get increasingly difficult and staying alive becomes almost a top priority thanks to the fast moving critters and your jumping technique. You can use the POW switch at the bottom of the level to flip whatever enemies are walking about. Of course you can only use it three times so learn to use it strategically

In between levels you can collect coins to raise your score and possibly earn much needed extra lives. Once your lives are all gone, the game is over.

Mario Bros. is a nice looking e-reader game. You can tell Mario and Luigi apart and the graphics do a good job of making the brothers noses nice and big as they should be. The game is pretty light on music but the sound effects are pretty delightful.

As mentioned before, if own any of the three Super Mario Advance games for the GBA, then you’ve probably already played the better version of this game. Still even with the flawed jumping, Mario Bros.-e is a fun game. Get it if you must own every good e-reader game or if you want to see how this game originally looked.